Learning To Fall
by Chennai
Summary: Natalie Harding doesn't take the news well that Bill's remarrying. This is basically Twister but with the twist of a daughter thrown in there. JoxBill
1. Bill is Engaged

**IT'S BEEN MANY YEARS SINCE BILL AND JO HARDING SPLIT UP AND FILED FOR DIVORCE.**

**NOW BILL'S BACK WITH A FINACEE, GETTING THE DIVORCE PAPERS FROM HIS WIFE.**

Melissa said to Bill, "Um, and honey. Are you sure she's gonna be here?" Bill nodded and continued to drive. Finally, he answered her.

"If I know Jo, she's already dragged her entire department into the field. Ah, hell, a day like today, it's to be expected. She forgets everything except her work."

**AND HE'S SEEING HIS OWN DAUGHTER FOR THE FIRST TIME IN YEARS.**

"Hey, Natalie." The man said. Then, she recognized him. It was her dad, Bill. Of course, he was only here for the divorce papers. Not for her or Jo.

"Hey Bill." Natalie said. Feeling awkward, she looked over at her mom who was reading through the last page of the pack of the papers.

**EVERYTHING ABOUT HIM IS UNFAMILAR EXCEPT FOR HIS BLUE-GREY EYES**

"Boy oh boy. New job, new truck, new wife......It's like a whole new you" Jo said sarcastically.

BILL'S DESIGN OF DORORTHOY WAS BUILT BY HIS OLD STORM-CHASING TEAM

One day. I'll give you one day. Whether she flies or not I'm gone." Bill states.

**WILL BILL EVEN MARRY MELISSA**

"You know, I can't compete with this. I don't even know where to start!"

**IF HE'S STILL IN LOVE WITH JO?**

"You know what; I think we've seen enough!" Jo says. Bill smiles at her and leans and kisses her.

**Starring**

**BILL HARDING**

**JO HARDING **

**NATALIE HARDING**

**AND THE REST OF THE GANG**

Bill Harding drove his red Dodge Ram down a dirt road. In the passenger seat was his fiancée, Melissa Reeves. They had been dating for a while now that they were getting married; Bill needed to get the divorce papers from his ex-wife, Jo Harding.

Melissa said to Bill, "Um, and honey. Are you sure she's gonna be here?" Bill nodded and continued to drive. Finally, he answered her.

"If I know Jo, she's already dragged her entire department into the field. Ah, hell, a day like today, it's to be expected. She forgets everything except her work."

Melissa saw his anxious expression. He was seeing his soon-to-be ex wife and his daughter, Natalie, who he hasn't seen in years. She hasn't even met Natalie yet.

"You're nervous about seeing her, aren't you?" Melissa stated.

"Nervous? No. Why, do I look nervous?" Bill asked. He _was_ nervous. Who wouldn't be? His daughter wouldn't speak to him.

Melissa started to shake her head but then she saw her fiancé's face. It was nervous. "No. Well, yeah you do, a little." Then she changed the subject. "Does Natalie know about the engagement?"

Bill shrugged. "I haven't talked to her or Jo in a while. So, I'm guessing she doesn't."

"Jo said she signed the papers, right?" She asked. Bill didn't know. Last time he talked to Jo, she said she had.

"That's what she said." He told her. Wasn't she there when the conversation between him and Jo took place?

"You don't think so?" Melissa asked worriedly. The marriage ceremony was coming up and she didn't want to reschedule the date once again.

"No," Bill smiled. "I think so. Give me a kiss" Melissa leaned over and kissed the side of his mouth and Bill continued to drive.

Natalie Jane Harding was an only child but she loved it. Her mom, Jo Harding, chased twisters along with her research/storm chasing team: Dusty, Rabbit, Beltzer, Haynes, Sanders, Laurence, Preacher, and Joey.

She was now 17 years old and has been out chasing storms with her mom since she was 12. Her dad, Bill Harding, had left when she had turned 11. Natalie had dirty blonde hair and blue-grey eyes. Like her father, she was stubborn and like her mother, she loved science. Everyone called her NJ unless she was in trouble.

As the sun shone, she laid in the back of her blue truck. Her hair fell into her eyes, which were closed. Dusty had told her about the papers. It was sad that if she wanted to know anything she had to go to Dusty or Rabbit.

"Oh, fuck! This thing is useless!" Jo yelled suddenly which scared Natalie. Her eyes shot open and she sat up. She saw her mom on top of a van, messing around with a Doppler-Radar.

"Sorry, Jo." She heard Beltzer say. Then it started moving. "Wait, wait, wait. Beltzer!" She banged her foot on the roof. "That's good. Give me a reading!"

Beltzer got of the van, grumbling. "Okay, boss lady, hold your horses." He went over to his lap-top that was connected to the radar. "Which way do you want it, Jo?"

Jo, who was sitting on her feet, stood up and looked at the sky. Then she told Beltzer, "Looks like the dry line has stalled. Give me a sector scan west, northwest, look at mid-levels for rotation and increase the PRF."

Natalie rolled her eyes and went over to Dusty. He was sitting in his van listening to 70's music and watching weather forecasts. Dusty, aka Dustin, was the dad in Natalie's life. But, he was more fun and way more awesome. Whenever she got detention, he covered for her.

"If I mistreat you girl," He was singing. "Sho' don't mean no harm....." Then, he noticed Natalie. "Oh, hey NJ." She gave a small wave. She usually visited everyone when she was bored.

Next, she visited Rabbit and Laurence. Rabbit was giving Laurence a lecture about how we're not supposed to fold the maps. But, roll the maps instead. Only Laurence folded them, although he denied it.

Nothing seemed interesting so she walked over to her mom who was trying to get something that was under her truck. When Natalie got over there, she put her hair in a bun, reached under the truck, and pulled out her mom's pack of gum.

"Thanks kid." She smiled. Jo never called her daughter Natalie; it was either, kid or NJ. But, Natalie didn't mind. She was at home chasing tornados. Where the lab _was _nature.

Then she heard Rabbit yell, "Hey, I don't believe it! Who is that handsome devil?"

"Gentlemen" She heard another voice say. It sounded familiar.

"The Extreme! IT'S THE EXTREME!!" Dusty yelled. Natalie headed back over to her truck and laid in the back again. She closed her eyes. Then she felt someone jump on the back.

"NJ, where are the papers?" Mom asked me. Behind her, was a man. He had dark brown hair and blue-grey. Just like Natalie's.

"Glove department." She grumbled then she stood up. Natalie walked over to her mom's yellow truck and got the divorce papers from the glove department. She tossed them at her mom, who caught them with no difficulty.

"Hey, Natalie." The man said. Then, she recognized him. It was her dad, Bill. Of course, he was only here for the divorce papers. Not for her or Jo.

"Hey Bill." Natalie said. Feeling awkward, she looked over at her mom who was reading through the last page of the pack of the papers. Natalie knew her mom avoided that page from keeping the divorce final. Jo had by no means stopped loving Bill, even though he stopped loving her.

"What are you doing?" Bill asked her. Jo turned her head toward him and answered, "Can I read it first?" Bill sighed once again. _What was the rush_, Natalie thought. _Oh yea, he probably didn't want to be here_.

"No! It's the same as it was in December." Jo then responded lying. She had read every page a few times over, some even out loud. "I didn't read it in December."

"Christ," Bill sighed. "Would you just sign it so we can get out of here? Please?" Who were we? Oh yea, probably a girlfriend or something.

"We?" Jo asked understanding. "She's here?"

"Yes, she's here, she's over with Dusty. Now would you please sign the document?" Jo took this as a solution from getting out of signing the divorce papers.

"You left her with Dusty? What's the matter with you?" Jo left the papers and started to walk over to Dusty's van. Natalie gave her dad a confused look then she walked after her mom. Bill, after grabbing the papers, followed too.

"The suck zone- it's the point- basically at which the twister sucks you up, but it's not that technical therefore obviously, but-"Dusty was saying before he got interrupted by Jo.

"Hi." Jo said. "I'm Jo Harding." She held out her hand for the black-haired woman to shake. "Oh hello," She said, getting up. "Nice to meet you." The woman shook her hand.

"Bill just told me the happy news." Jo said. Wait, Natalie looked at the woman's hand. It had an engagement ring on her ring finger.

"YOUR GETTING MARRIED?!?" She yelled just as Bill walked over with the papers in hand.

"That." Jo said, hiding her hurt. "It's happy news." Natalie looked at her mom disbelievingly. The mom she knew would sometimes stay up all night crying that her life was pointless since her dad was dead and Bill left.

" I guess, uh, it probably seems kind of sudden." The woman said, fidgeting.

Jo said, "Seems sudden?"

"Dude, you takin' the vows? That's sweet!" Dusty said. He had always avoided girls when they were sad, depressed, or angry. But, he knew that Jo had feelings for Bill.

"Well, we- we just wanted to get it done before Billy started his new job." The woman said. _Billy_?_ Seriously_, thought Natalie.

"That's right, that's right, right, right, right. Weatherman!" Bill then replied, offended, "What?" Then Jo said innocently, "What?" Then they got into a small argument. It wasn't as big as it usually was but still…

Then, someone's phone rang. Natalie looked around and saw the black-haired woman answered her phone. "Dr. Melissa Reeves here? Uh-huh?" _So, her name was Melissa_, thought Natalie.

Natalie spotted a cherry red Dodge Ram and walked over to it. She heard footsteps behind her. When she turned around, Bill and Jo were behind her.

"New truck?" Jo said. "That's right." Bill said. Natalie hated to be around them when they talked. It was always awkward.

"Boy oh boy. New job, new truck, new wife......It's like a whole new you" Jo said sarcastically. Natalie just walked away. It was very awkward being around them. She went back to her truck, stepped in, and listened to music.


	2. Liability Only

Natalie got out of her truck and walked over to where her parents, Melissa, Dusty, and Haynes were at, which was at Jo's truck, looking at DORTHOY. Haynes walks away and is on the phone with someone. Excitedly, she hangs up.

"Jo, we got major action! The NSSL says the caps are breaking, the tower's going up to 30 miles up the dryline!" Haynes told Jo.

Jo looks up at the sky, she pauses, then suddenly focuses, slamming the tailgate. "All right, let's go!!" Everyone starts packing their things, and Natalie runs to her truck and makes sure that DORTHORY 6 is tight on the back.

"Dorothy 2 and 3 ready!" Beltzer says. "Dorothy 4 ready!" Haynes says. Everyone gets into their vehicles and they all waved, except Natalie and Jo; who honked the horn, as they passed Bill and Melissa.

Natalie was in the back of the line, behind Dusty. She didn't notice anyone behind her till she saw a flash of red. That's when she looked back and saw Bill's truck following her. She says into the radio to Jo.

"Mom, why is he coming?" She asked.

"Who?" Then Jo saw a red truck following her daughter's truck. "I don't know." Natalie sighed and continued to drive.

"Jo, I think we got fleas." Beltzer said into the radio to Jo. Natalie looked up the line of cars passing her teams. It was Jonas Miller's team.

"Jo, come back!" Bill's voice said. Natalie didn't know that Bill tapped onto their frequency till she heard him talk.

"Hey there, you change your mind?" Jo said. She had been glad Bill came along. But, at the same time, not. He probably was only there for her to final the divorce.

"Yeah, what's Jonas doin' here?" Bill said. Black Windstars pass the whole team. Natalie had flipped them off while Dusty made kissy-faces.

Jo responded to Bill, "I'm not sure. But I bet he's asking himself the same question about you." That's when Natalie switched her radio off. She heard noises and looked back. Bill had swerved off the road. Because she wasn't paying attention, she swerved off the road. Her tire went flat.

Bill parked behind her and got out. Melissa stepped out also, but kept by the truck. Natalie had put her blonde hair into a bun and was trying to see if the tire was able to make it to the nearest station.

"Need a ride?" Bill asked. She looked up startled. Sighing, she nodded and got her stuff out of the truck.

Bill followed the team to the repair station where he got his tire fixed and Natalie vanished with Dusty somewhere. When they appeared, she had a drink and he was soaked.

They all looked across the street where Jonas' team was parked. Jonas, himself, was being interviewed by TV reporters. Bill got mad when he saw the instrument. It was like his design of DORTHORY.

"What drives me is the unknown. What if we could predict a tornado's path? How many lives would be spared with the creation of an early warning system?" He pulls out a large weather instrument. "And D.O.T. 3 is the answer! The first digital orthographic telemeter. And inside, she holds hundreds of these little sensors." Holds one up "Which when released into the tornado, will transmit back data on wind speed, pressure, and dew point temperature."

Bill got mad and tried to punch Jonas for stealing his design but lucky, for Jonas, he got held back by Dusty and Beltzer.

Jo ran over and stepped between her team and Jonas' team. "Hey, hey, hey, hey! Guys, guys. All my guys get a grip on yourselves." She was being smug now. "We both know he'll never get that thing up in the air."

"Well let me enlighten you people! This baby has satellite COM link. We've got on-board pulse Doppler, we've got NEXRAD real time. Today, we're gonna make history. So stick around." Jo lifts an eyebrow contemptuously. "Cuz' the days of sniffin' the dirt are over." He said knowing that Bill sniffed dirt to help him with the tornados.

"Better than what you sniff." Rabbit injected in the conversation. Natalie rolled her eyes. Couldn't they behave like grown-ups? Apparently, not.

"We'll see who gets their first, pal." Bill said to Jonas.

"Oh, and by the way, I really enjoy your weather reports!" Jonas and his crew laugh. Bill tries to get at him again but Dusty and Bouncer hold him back.

Natalie rolled her eyes once again and walked into the diner. A few minutes later Melissa walked in and sat down at the counter beside Natalie, who ignored her.

"I'm not trying to replace your mother, Natalie." Melissa said after a few minutes of silence. Natalie just snorted.

"I'm almost 17 years old, I'm not 7." When the waitress came about Natalie ordered a Coke while Melissa ordered two lemonades for her and Bill. Jo soon walked in, but she got interrupted by Jonas.

"You know, Jo, I don't know what the matter is with Bill. I mean, he's wacko, he's crazy!" Jo pretends to be deeply concerned with what Jonas is telling her, even though she could care less. "You ought to keep a leash on him."

"He's not my problem, he's yours." Jo said to him.

Natalie got her Coke and walked out as soon as Jo sat down. Bill picked up a handful of dirt and lets it fall to the ground. He didn't notice his daughter stand beside him.

"I hope you know what you're doing." Natalie said, softly. Bill looked up at her.

"What do you mean?" Bill asked his daughter. He knew that Jo trusted her, but he didn't know how much.

"You file for divorce. Disappear for a year or two then you come back remanding the papers. It sounds like you hesitated."

"Natalie. It's none of your business if I divorce your mother and marry Melissa!" He said, not releasing he always got into an argument, just like Jo, when he talked to his daughter.

"Of course, it's my business! The court will place me with one of yawl two." Natalie yelled. "It's always going to be my business Bill!"

Natalie walked away to her mom's truck and Dusty came up to Bill. As soon as Melissa came out with the lemonades Bill realized where to track the tornado.

"We gotta move out. Listen, follow us in the truck, but stay behind Dusty's van, you'll be safe back there. I gotta go with Jo. Okay, let's move out, people! Let's go!" Bill informed her. "Natalie! Ride with Melissa!"

Natalie grumbled and sat in the passenger seat of the shiny red truck. Melissa ran and drove off, following Dusty's van. Natalie could tell that Jo and Bill were arguing. They always did. That's why Natalie didn't talk to her dad often.

Melissa's cell phone rings once again and she answers it. "Dr. Melissa Reeves here? Oh, oh. Yes, Donald, you've caught me in my car!" _This_ _Donald person had problems_, thought Natalie.

"Donald, this feeling of inadequacy is normal for you, Julia doesn't resent you. We talked about this before. She did not marry your penis. Oh, okay, she didn't only marry your penis." Natalie shook her head. Melissa had weird patients.

As they race along, they can see the tornado ahead. Cars passing the other way honk their horns, letting others know the impending danger. The national weather service has issued a tornado warning in effect until 11:00 am, the radio said. Natalie cut it off. She knew there was a tornado touch down.

Finally, she hung up after reassuring this Donald person that Julia loved him and not just his penis. Dang, I'd hate to be her sometimes, Natalie thought. First, marrying Bill, then 2nd, she has patients who probably did trucks.

"What was that about?" Natalie asked Melissa.

"I'm a therapist." Explains so much.

"Oh." Silent Pause. "My dad's?"

"Do you think your dad needs therapy?" Melissa asked her.

"Probably." She muttered. The rest of the car ride was silent.

"Oh. My. God." Melissa said. Natalie looked up and faintly, saw something yellow falling down from the sky. Then, she realized it was her mother's truck.

It fell right in front of the truck and Melissa narrowly missed it, not wrecking the truck in anyway. Everyone ran over to make sure they were alright.

"You just missed the truck! Awesome! IT'S AWESOME!!!" Dusty said.

"Melissa!" Bill yelled.

"Oh God, Billy, BILLY!!" Overdramatic?

Jo walks by and Natalie walks over to the truck to grab her things. "You okay?" Jo asked her daughter. She nodded.

"Well, there's some good news. It did fly." Dusty says talking to Jo as she breaks a window and pulls her stuff out of the totaled truck. "What was it like?"

"It was windy." She said.

"Windy? That's intense-" Dusty said before Jo interrupted.

"All right, move it, Dusty!"

"That's intense! That's intense!" He replies holding his hands up.

"Hey, the auto club's here!" Joey yelled as the familiar black Windstars passed them.

Dusty runs up to the van and puts his upper body in the window. "Fashionably late again, Jonas? Fashionably late! Gimmie kiss, baby!"

"Loser! Loser!!!!" Dusty shouted coming off of the van.

"Why don't you find your own twister, buddy!!" Rabbit yells.

"Loser!!" Dusty says while acting like he's directing traffic." Move on!!"

Beltzer said, "Let's go." Haynes walks over to DOROTHY 2. "Don't worry, I'll get 'em cleaned. Common' guys let's get DOROTHY 2 ready!"

"You got full coverage on that truck?" Jo says to Bill, who has his arms around Melissa.

"Liability only." Bill informs her. He really knows why Jo's asking why Melissa isn't.

She replies, wiping her face with a towel "Liability only?" Then, she gives them a look that's a cross between "Whatever that means" and "That's a scary thought!" "It's a very pretty truck." Bill makes a nervous laugh; he knows what she's up to. She wants to use his truck for the chase. Jo looks at him as she throws all her stuff in her backpack.

"Don't even think about it." She continues looking at him "No way."


	3. Twin Sisters

Jo, Natalie, Bill, and Melissa driving in his truck with the next DOROTHY loaded up in the back. Melissa and Natalie are in the back while Jo and Bill are in the passenger seat. For once, they weren't arguing, which amazed Natalie.

"This is the caboose, this is the caboose! I'm waiting for orders, Boss!" Dusty said. Both Jo and Bill grab for the radio mic. They hesitate, then both grab again. Natalie sighed.

"Just freaking choose who's going to grab it!" She said.

"Go ahead." Bill said.

"It's your truck." Jo told him. Natalie sighed and rolled her eyes.

"No, really. You should." Finally, Jo picks up the radio mic and starts talking into it. "Dusty, the battle zone should be northeast of 81."

"Copy that, Jo."

"Wait a minute. Battle zone? Billy, what're we doing?" Melissa asked. Bill was focused on driving and Jo was looking at the maps.

"It means, we're going out again." Natalie explained.

"Again? But back there you almost got yourself killed!" Melissa nearly shouted.

"It's in the job description of being a tornado chaser." Natalie told her. "And, anyways it was a close call." She sighed and looked out the window.

"You're gonna cross 15 on Oklahoma412. 412." Rabbit informs Jo over the radio. Jo starts talking to Haynes. They keep driving. Jo dramatically leans over to see the speedometer. Goin' 50. She slaps her forehead. That's too slow! Bill rolls his eyes and speeds up. Off in the distance you could see another twister. Then over to Jonas' group. Jo's group speeds up so that they're neck and neck.

"There's your pal." Jo said to Bill as they passed Jonas' van. Bill and Jonas glare at each other and keep driving. Suddenly, Bill slams on the breaks.

"What're you doin', what're you doin'?!" Jo exclaims.

"Look at the updraft, the angle! It's gonna shift it's track!" Bill said answering her question.

"Are you sure?" Jo asked.

"Oh yes. It's defiantly a sidewinder! It'll move left." Jo realized that Bill was correct. The tornado was going to shift its track.

"Is that bad?" Melissa asked. "No." Natalie answered. "Not for us anyways."

"Wasn't there a road back there?" Bill asked.

Jo, then, answered him, looking back. "You're right, go, go, go, GO, GO!!!!"

Bill turns the truck around, driving fast. Then turns right onto a different road and speeds ahead. Melissa's phone rings.

"Hello?! Donald, now's not a very good time for me, okay? What...all right, put Julie on. Okay." The tornado starts to shift to the left, just like Bill predicted.

Melissa responding to the phone call with "Uh-huhs" and "Yeahs" while Jo listens in with Natalie.

"I know it feels unnatural but with Donald's motility, you're not gonna have this baby the old-fashioned way. Even if you stand on your head."

Natalie peered over the seat and gave Bill a look, while Jo looked at him weirdly. Then, he explained, "She's a, reproductive therapist."

"Laurence? Laurence come in, we've got to get ahead of this storm, what's on the satellite?" Jo asks Laurence into the radio.

"I can't talk to you right now; I'll have to call you back." Melissa says, hanging up her cell phone.

"Twister south, skipping south, shifting to south, we have a, F2, ladies and gentlemen, possibly F3. You with me? It's a very, very large rope on the ground. Very large. Right on the ground." Laurence explained.

"It looks like its turning; it looks like its turning. The atmosphere is very unstable! Repeat, unstable!!" Joey says into the radio then Rabbit said, "This is Rabbit, this is Rabbit, it's at 2:00, it's headed this way!!"

"This is Sanders, this is Sanders!!! We're driving due east on a country road we've been on for about 6 miles. We've got an F3, 2, sitting on the ground, and she's a beauty! WHOOHOO!!!!"

"Jo, its Barn Burner, its Barn Burner! It's not gonna hang out long. It's not hanging out long!!" Dusty said.

"We're getting slammed in here guys, you better hang back." Bill says. The rest of the group slows down a bit, while Bill, Jo, and Melissa drive on. They see the tornado. Jo grabs a camera.

Jo is about to take a picture of the tornado, when she notices the rain on the window. He floors the gas. They approach a bridge going over a large lake. The tornado is hanging over the lake, sucking up water. The four are racing it in Bill's truck. Suddenly, the twister splits in half. Now there's two!

"Okay, we've got sisters!" Bill announced.

"We're right under the flanking line." Said Jo.

"Julie, I know you're upset, you just gotta, breathe, we've both just gotta breathe!" Melissa says into her phone talking to Julie. Suddenly, a cow flies past, in front of them.

"Cow." Jo and Natalie said at the same thing.

"Another cow." Jo says as the same cow flies by.

"Actually, I think that was the same one mom." Natalie said.

"We've got drunkards here, we've got no path!" Bill said.

He floors the gas, and then realizes that won't work; the truck can't go that fast, he slams on the breaks. The whole time they're all screaming. There are now three tornadoes, swirling around the truck like a carousel.

"HANG ON!!" Bill shouts. The truck begins to slide and spin. "Honey, hang on!"

Melissa screams, Natalie and Jo grabs the roof of the car. Unexpectedly, the twisters elevate back into the clouds and are gone. For a second, all look like in shock. Then Bill and Jo hop out of the truck excited, leaving Melissa, still frozen with fear. Jo and Bill hug and laugh. Natalie climbs out and makes sure that was DOROTHY undamaged.

"God! Was that incredible?!" Jo screams. "Did you see it? It was incredible!" Jo replies screaming back. Jo points up to the clouds where the twisters disappeared.

The team arrives in their trucks. Jo screams to the rest of her team, "Did you see that?!!" Meanwhile, Bill was trying to calm down Melissa. "Relax, Melissa. It's just the start of it all." Natalie said, smirking.

"Three times a lady!" Beltzer says.

Joey says, "Did you see the inflow jets on these fatties?"

Jo tells them the entire epic tale as she climbs up into the back of truck, by DOROTHY and Natalie.

Jo screams, "Did you see? I was sitting in the middle of it!!!!!"

Laurence says, "I was thinking, it may not be too bad of an idea, if we just got the hell out of here.'Cuz that was defiantly too many tornadoes back there...... "

Jo replied, "Are you kidding? This thing's not over, we've only seen the start of it! "

Rabbit says, "Hey, you know what, uh, Jo, somebody couldn't help but notice how close we are to Wakita."

"No!" Jo said.

"Come on mom!" Natalie says.

"Yeah, and Aunt Meg wouldn't mind a pit stop, right?" Sanders says after Natalie.

"Red meat, we crave sustenance!" Dusty says smiling.

"Guys, we are not invading my aunt!" Jo yells.

"FOOD!!! FOOOOD!!!!" Everyone but, Bill, Melissa, and Jo chants food over and over again.

"HEY!! We are absolutely not going!" Natalie smirked knowing that they would end up going to Wakita to visit Aunt Meg and get something to eat. It always happened. And most of the team was in need of a shower.


	4. Only Two Of Us

Authors Note: The rest of the story is going to be in Natalie's P.O.V. The last three chapters had to be edited a lot since I kept trying to write in 1st person instead of 3rd. Thank you LTJM and JenD16 for reviewing for the last three chapters. I thank you very much! This chapter goes out to you two for taking the time out of your life to write me a review for Learning To Fall!

I'm not going to be able to update for the next two weeks. Next week, I'm going to be at a church conference for the teens and the week after that, I'll be camping with the preacher and teens from my church so just warning ya! If you have an idea, please let me know in a review or a message!

Warning: Language

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"BILLY!!!!" Aunt Meg yelled as soon as we walked into her yard.

"MEG!!" Bill replied to Aunt Meg, leading Melissa behind him. She was still freaked out by the triple twisters but I personally, like my mom, thought it was awesome. Bill thought it was awesome too, but he seemed to care more about Melissa's sanity, if she still has any left.

"Day before yesterday, I was telling Jo," Meg says dramatically "how much I miss you!" Bill and Dusty laugh at this display "You haven't seen any of my new work!" Then she noticed me and mom. "Jo! Oh honey!" She kissed mom on the cheek then me on the forehead.

"Seen some action?" Aunt Meg asks Jo, who replied honestly, "You should have seen it."

Everyone, but Melissa, got around to hugging Meg. Melissa was introduced to Meg then we walked into the kitchen for Meg's home-style cooking that we missed so much.

Rabbit, aka Robert, starts talking between bites of food. "No, in a severe lightning storm you want to grab your ankles and stick your butt up in the air." Somehow, they got onto the topic of lighting.

"He's right, if you're gonna get hit, it's the safest orifice." Haynes informs us.

Then, Joey decides to be sarcastic. "Yeah, I'd like to get hit by lightning once. Ya know, see what its like."

"I'm with ya." I told him. He held his hand up for a high five and I gave it to him. Then, I pulled out my phone and started to text.

"Who are you texting, NJ?" Dusty asked me. I rolled my eyes.

"Melissa and Jen." I answered then put my phone away and started to eat.

"Hey, this is real lemonade. Hey, Meg, I'm movin' in here!!" Laurence said after he took a sip of the lemonade Meg made.

"You can bunk with me now Laurie!" I said. Laurie was my nickname for him. He stuck his tongue out at me and I repeated the action.

"You guys look out, make a space. Look out, look out, look out." Mom plops a huge chunk of beef on Melissa's plate. Melissa looks at it, almost disgusted.

"It's good, Melissa." I informed her. She still didn't eat it. Oh well, she's missing out on Meg's beef.

"God, Meg, you've got a lot of beef. Where'd you get all this beef?" Rabbit asks after he took a bite of the beef.

"Did you see my cows out front?" Meg asked. "

"No." Rabbit said while chewing the beef.

"Ohhhh!" She makes a gasping face, everyone laughs, except for Melissa.

"Ohh. Cool." Rabbit said looking down. When he looked up I smirked at him and he rolled his eyes.

"You slaughter your own cows," Dusty says impressed. "Meg! Nice." Mom plops down a bowl of mashed potatoes and gravy.

Dusty ends up putting food on Melissa's plate that she doesn't eat and mom is waiting for Bill to get out of the shower.

"Oh, pardon me gentlemen. You guys gotta see this." Bill says as he walks to the TV after his shower. He cranks up the volume on the TV.

"Well for me, it's the thrill of the hunt." Jonas says. "Man vs. nature. Having battle with the elements."

"So as a scientist, can you actually predict tornadoes now?" The reporter on TV asks.

"Well, no, they are very, very unpredictable, as some of my more unfortunate colleagues found out earlier today." Jonas says talking about our chasing team.

"Oh, turn him off." I told Bill. But, he ignored me. Haynes said the same thing but he ignored her also.

Bill turns off TV and says, "What a wiener"

"He really is in love with himself." Mom says.

Then I said, "I thought it was just a summer thing."

"He's gonna rue the day. Dude, he's gonna rue the day he came The Extreme, baby." Dusty said about my dad.

"I was just wonderin' why you call Billy "The Extreme?" Melissa asked us.

"Cuz' Billy is the extreme." Dusty said. "Bill is the most out of control son of a bitch in the game!" Preacher said after Dusty.

"No, I think I came in second." Bill says looking at mom. She sighs and turns toward the stairs but calls back, "You guys need to get some new stories. I'm gonna go clean up."

"So we get this one near Dalton-" Dusty said but was interrupted when Bill said, 'Oh, God.'

"We're way too close, and Jo got the bid on it, she's filmin' it, right. And all the sudden, out of nowhere, this shity looking valiant, comes pulling up, right in the way." Dusty says telling Melissa.

"She starts yellin'. And this loser, stumbles out of the car, he's got like, a bottle of Jack Daniel's in his hand. He's naked-" Beltzer says talking over the story.

"He's BUTT naked." Rabbit put in.

"Naked." Says Beltzer.

"NOT naked." Bill said. "I was not naked! Honestly, you're telling this story in front of Natalie?"

"She's heard worse man." Dusty said. I pushed myself away from the table and walked outside and sat on the porch step.

{No One's P.O.V}

"He's without apparel." Beltzer continues the story just like Natalie didn't leave the table.

"Half naked." Bill reasons but it doesn't work.

"Naked. So, Jo is yelling at him to get out of the way, right." Dusty says. "He just- He strolls up to the twister, and he says "Have a drink." And he chucks the bottle into the twister, and it never hits the ground!"

"Twister caught it, and sucked it right up." Preacher says. Melissa was looking weirdly the whole time at Bill. In her head, according to these people, Bill was naked and he threw liquor into a twister.

"Honey, this is a tissue of lies. See there was another Bill, an evil Bill-- and I killed him!" Bill explains to Melissa.

Everyone gets to talking about the twister, except Melissa, an hour or two ago. "No, that was a good size twister, what was that, an F3?" Preacher says.

"Solid F2." Bill claims.

"See now you've lost me again." Melissa says to her fiancée.

"It's the Fujita scale. It measures the intensity of a tornado by how much it "eats"." Bill explains.

"Eats?" Melissa questions.

Bill replied, "Destroys."

"The little encounter we had back there was a strong F2, F3 maybe." Laurence decides.

"Bet we see some F4's today." Beltzer says.

"That'd be sweet!" Haynes says smiling at her boyfriend.

"4 is good, 4'll re-locate your house fairly officially." Bill says.

"Is there an F5?" Melissa asks. Everyone becomes silent. "What would that be like?"

"The finger of God." Preacher says.

"None of you have ever seen an F5?" Melissa asks.

"Only two of us." Everyone's eyes, but Melissa, dart upstairs to where Jo was showering and outside where Natalie was.

[Natalie's P.O.V]

"WE GOT ONE, BABY! F3!! A MILE OUTSIDE PARLAINE!!!!!" I heard Dusty shouting from inside.


	5. Me and Natalie

"You ride along with Dusty, okay, is that cool?" Bill says to Melissa. I slip into the back of his truck while mom gets in the drivers seat.

Once Bill gets into the truck, they all start driving, with the truck in the front. Mom picks up the radio-talker and talks into it.

"Rabbit?"

"Hang on!" Then, he pulls out a road atlas. "Uh, let's go right through Wakita, we'll take Myers Road past the fire station, and we'll take 132 to 44 east."

"Rabbit, do you know any shortcuts, let us know, we need every second!" Bill said to Rabbit as I pulled my hair into a ponytail. My white t-shirt was dirty and so were my old faded blue jeans. My converses were okay. "Okay, Rabbit, time to impress me!"

"Okay, about a mile up there's a little detour we're gonna take, a little walk in the woods!" Rabbit announces. I wonder where that man's mind is half the time.

They turn onto a winding dirt road, through a thicket. As Jo's driving over a bump, he says into radio, "Hey, its bumpy here, folks." Then he turns to my mom. "Okay, let's get you wired."

He puts a wireless mic headset on her, clipping the receiver on her shorts. "Oh, excuse me," He says. I could tell mother-dearest was enjoying him being that close. "Okay, you're on!"

"See, kids? An ordinary person spends his life avoiding tense situations!" Beltzer says into the radio making me laugh.

"Repo man spends his life getting in _to_ tense situations, BELTZER!!!!!!!WOOO!!" Dusty replies.

"Okay, Rabbit, what have you got?" Bill asks. I could see his blue-grey eyes, just like me; flicker around, just like I would do. Dusty told me that when ever mom looked at me, she thought of Bill's eyes.

"Okay, Bill, turn left here toward that farm." Rabbit says.

"You sure about that?" Bill responds.

"Uh, yeah. Trust me. Rabbit is good, Rabbit is wise." Rabbit says making me chuckle. The nickname Rabbit was picked up when I said he was a smart-ass.

"Christ...." Bill muttered then he said into the radio. "This is a field, Rabbit!"

"I know, keep going, beyond it, right through that brush!" Bill didn't respond. "You see that brush right in front of you....."

"Yeah, we see the brush, what's beyond that?" Bill asked. I sighed.

"Beyond what?" Rabbit asked. I knew there was a smile on his face. Annoyed, I grabbed the radio-talker from Bill's hands.

"The BRUSH! You idiot!" I yelled into it.

"Oh, um, it's the highway, it's the highway!!" Rabbit finally says. I threw it back to Bill and lean back sighing.

"Just like your dad." Mom muttered. "Where's the road Rabbit?!" She said talking into her mic.

"It should be any moment-" Rabbit said. Suddenly, we get onto the highway right in front of Jonas' group.

"You're insane Jo! What are you trying to do, get somebody killed?!!" Jonas yelled into the radio.

I grabbed the mike from her and started yelling in it. "If that somebody is you than yea. We ARE trying to kill somebody." I threw it back to Mom.

"We're gonna have to get off of this road." Bill says. Then, I realize, he's right. We have to get off this road quick.

"He's right mom." I said.

"What? This is no time to guess-" But she was cut off by Bill.

"I'm not guessing." He said. We needed to make a right turn.

"Make a right turn."

"Trust me." Bill said after me. Mom rolled her eyes. She wasn't used to taking orders from me and Bill combined. Dusty said I got my dad's ability to track a storm correctly without any machines even though, they help a lot.

"Do you want to drive?" She said to both of us. Then, we said the same thing at the same time.

"Just Turn!" I heard him sigh and I rolled my eyes.

Mom turns sharply onto a dirt road, the crew following. Then, Joey announces over the radio, "We've got a touchdown!"

"We got a touchdown, touchdown, tornado is on the ground." Laurie says after Joey.

"Where is it?" Mom asks.

"Looks like it's coming down route 33!"

"Umm," I said. "We're on Route 33!"

"Direction, Rabbit!" Mom asks after a few minutes of trying to spot the tornado.

"North, northeast." Rabbit says.

"Do you see it?" Bill asks Mom.

"No." She says.

"Do you Natalie?" Bill asks me.

"Nope." I said popping my lips at the p.

"Beltzer, we don't have a visual. Repeat, we do not have a visual! Help us out, here!" Bill says.

"Yeah, I got it Billy. It's the best motion I've ever seen! It's like the base of this fatty is about half a mile wide." Beltzer says.

"Maybe it's stalled." Mom reasons.

"No, I think Rabbit's right." Rabbit told us we'd see it once we get over a hill. "It's gonna show it's ugly face right over that hill. Jo, what do you think?"

"You gonna go for it, Jo?" Dusty asks.

"Time for deployment, guys, let's do it!" Jo says.

"Jo, we should drop Natalie off with everyone else." Bill tells mom.

"No! If you get to go, so do I!" I shouted at him. He sighed.

"There's no reason to argue with her Bill." Mom tells him. "She's stubborn."

"I'll get her ready." I said talking about DOROTHY. I slid open the back window and slid out. Hail was pounding hard.

"ARE YOU OKAY?!!!" Mom asks me, slowing down her truck.

"I'M FINE, JUST KEEP GOING!" I said as I flipped on a switch. DOROTHY's sirens go on. Reaching inside, I put on my black jacket.

"Hold on, we're almost there, we're almost there!!!" Mom yells.

"WHOOOAAAAAA!!! Stop, this is fine!!!" I hear Bill shout.

"Wait, we got to get closer, just a little closer!!!" Mom reasons as a tricycle crashes onto the windshield. "Okay, that's close enough!"

We all pull DOROTHOY onto the road as the tornado approaches. Suddenly a telephone pole falls on Dorothy, knocking her onto the road, all the sensors spilling everywhere. The tornado is gone suddenly. "Where-- Where'd it go? Where is it?!!" Bill shouts.

We hear the tornado's roar; however, we don't see it. "It's back Bill!" Mom shouts.

"It's not through yet!! You're right it's backbuilding! We've got a jumper here!" Bill yells.

Mom tries to pick up the sensors that had fallen out of DOROTHY. "It's not gonna drop anywhere near us, it's gonna drop right on us!!" Bill tries to reason with her. The tornado disappears as soon as he pulls her into the truck but she broke free.

"Jesus Christ, listen to yourself, you're obsessed!" Bill yelled. I sat on the tailgate as they argued.

"You've never seen it miss this house, and miss that house, and come after you!" Mom yelled straight back.

"When's it gonna be enough, huh?! How close do you have to get-" Bill yelled. He grabbed her hand as she started to walk away. "Talk to me!!! Jo, things go wrong, you can't explain it, and you can't predict it! Killing yourself won't bring your dad back. I'm sorry he died, but it was a long time ago. You gotta move on. Stop living in the past and look at what you've got right in front of you!"

"What are you saying?" Mom asked confused.

"Me. Jo, me and Natalie." He said shocking me. I walked over to him and hugged him surprising him. But, he hugged back and I whispered in his ear, "I'm sorry for being mad Dad." Tears started to flow from my eyes as Mom walked around making sure everything was alright with the truck.


	6. Time To Decide

After the last tornado, we headed to see 'The Shining' and I walked up with mom to the snack bar. We ordered nine coffees and I briefly saw mom reach for the pen on the tray. She reached into her pocket and pulled out a bundle of papers. The Divorce Papers… She's gonna sign them.

"Mom, are you sure?" I asked. Any person could tell she didn't want to sign it. She didn't answer me but signed her name declaring that once the lawyers got this paper, she'd be Jo Greene again. And, I'd go with either mom or dad.

"It's for the best NJ. For me, him, and you." She says after signing them.

"Two Coffees please." Dad said walking up to the counter. I looked down and messed with my phone while mom waited for her nine coffees.

"You know, I've been thinking about the sensors. The way they scattered out there today on the highway. I'm starting to wonder if the funnel will carry them like we thought." Dad said to Mom. She was confused.

"Too light?" We both asked.

"I don't know, maybe the whole things too light." Dad said. Oh yea, ever since that incident with the last tornado, I called him Dad, not Bill. But, I was never going to call Melissa my mother.

"_When's it gonna be enough, huh?! How close do you have to get-" Bill yelled. He grabbed her hand as she started to walk away. "Talk to me!!! Jo, things go wrong, you can't explain it, and you can't predict it! Killing yourself won't bring your dad back. I'm sorry he died, but it was a long time ago. You gotta move on. Stop living in the past and look at what you've got right in front of you!"_

"_What are you saying?" Mom asked confused._

"_Me. Jo, Me and Natalie." He said._

"I'm not sure." He said.

Mom stares at the TV inside the snack bar. It too is gone to static, Mom looks at it, the warning obvious to her. Dad notices as well. The wind is softly howling. Suddenly, Mom first, then Dad turns to the north looks up at the sky. You can tell, as storm chasers, they can sense a tornado coming. The wind grows louder. There is a low rumble. Dusty is in the van watching the Doppler radar. He suddenly grows very stressed.

"JO! BILL! NJ! IT'S COMING!!! IT'S HEADED RIGHT FOR US!!!!" Dusty screamed coming out of his van.

"It's already here." Dad said looking around. "EVERYBODY UNDERGROUND NOW!!" He shouted. The tornado sirens went off.

"BILLY!" Melissa screamed running out of the motel-room she was in that was part of the drive-in.

"Honey! Come on!" Dad grabs Melissa's hand and runs towards the warehouse, but stopped when he saw me and mom froze.

Suddenly she snaps out of it. She runs to the snack bar, banging on the windows to warn the employees, screaming. "GET UNDERGROUND, TAKE COVER RIGHT NOW, LETS GO!!!!!!" Mom screamed. As she did that, I grabbed the divorce papers.

"The doors!! Close the Doors!! Doors! Doors!!" Dusty screamed but I saw Laurence hiding his car, so did mom and we ran outside to get him. "BILL!!"

"Come on, take my hand." I said to him.

"I can't-" Laurence said but I interrupted.

"Take my hand!!"

Everyone scrambles to the pit in the floor of the warehouse, where they all crowd together up in a corner in fetal position. The whole warehouse begins to tremble. The windows implode. Suddenly, a hub cap flies through the air and cuts Preacher's forehead. Mom holds his head to stop the bleeding.

"My head!" Preacher shouted.

"You're okay!" Mom told him.

"IT'LL BE OVER SOON!!!" Dad yelled to Melissa.

"THIS IS INSANE!!! THIS IS INSANE!! I DON'T LIKE THIS!!! THIS IS DRIVING ME CRAZY!! I CAN'T DO THIS ANYMORE!!!!" Melissa screams as I put my hands to my ears to shield them from her voice.

"STAY CALM!!!" Dad yelled.

"Its okay, honey! It'll be okay!!" I heard Dad shout at Melissa. While my hands were over my ears, a beam fell and hit my head. Ow… It took all my strength to keep quiet and awake.

Suddenly, the winds start to die down, the lights buzz and go out. Dad notices the red streaks in my hair and runs over to me.

"Are you ok Natalie?" He asked worriedly.

"NATALIE!" I looked up at saw Mom running toward me. I was surprised. She never called me Natalie. Never.

"You called me Natalie." I told her.

"That is your name isn't it?" She joked then she turned serious. "DOES ANYONE HAVE A FIRST-AID KIT?" She shouted.

"I do." A woman who was working at the snack counter walked up and gave Mom the first-aid kit. She then started to clean my wound.

"Don't cry baby girl." I heard dad say. That's when I realized, I was crying. He pulled me into his arms and kissed my forehead.

"That's the most I can do, ok kid?" Mom said, using her nickname again. I nodded and stood up.

Mom went over to Dusty, who was in his van, me and Dad followed, with his arm around my waist.

"Can you tell which way it's headed?" She asked Dusty. He looked worried but answered anyway.

"Its backing northeast. It's um......It looks to hit Wakita head on."

"I'm goin'. I'm goin', let's go, let's go!!!" Mom yelled.

"We're going!!!!" Dusty yelled. I saw Dad's eyes flicker back and forth from Melissa to Mom.

"Just go with Melissa. You said, you'd stay for one day whether DOROTHY flew or not. We'll just carpool with someone." He was about to say something but I handed him the divorce papers I grabbed before the tornado. "Mom signed them. I hope you're happy with Melissa." I tossed them at him and walked over to mom who was mad because she couldn't call Aunt Meg.

"Where's the phone?!" Mom yelled.

"The lines are down, Jo, I already tried." Beltzer told her.

"We're going." Mom said.

"Damn it. Hang on, I'll drive." Bill said walking up.

"Hey, Jo, look. We can jump on the 38 exchange and cross highway 132." Rabbit said.

Bill walked over to Melissa. The first word I heard was, "You know, I can't compete with this. I don't even know where to start!"

"Bill, come on!" Dusty shouted.

"We can be in Wakita in about an hour. Bill, common'!!!" Rabbit yelled. Bill came up and I saw him place an engagement ring in his front pocket. He had broken up with Melissa or she broke it off with him.

Everyone loaded up in their vehicles and, me, mom, and Bill loaded up in his truck. We all start driving to Wakita. When we get there, we see that, we're too late.

Author's Note: I might finish the story Sunday or earlier Monday before I get too busy but I'm not going to update without more reviews. Thank you LTJM and JenD106 for reviewing on all of the chapters so far! You two rock!


	7. It's Not Your Fault

"Oh my God." I hear Bill say as we drive into Wakita.

"They had no warning." Mom says. "Oh, my god." I couldn't have said it better myself.

"Jo, Wait!!!" Bill yelled as Mom got out of the truck and ran toward Aunt Meg's house. It's been packed down into one story. Strangely, most of the wind sculptures still stand. He got out and followed her. I, slowly, got out and looked around. They really did have no warning.

"Meg?!!" Mom yells into the upstairs window.

"Jo, Wait!!!" He yelled again. I quickly ran and got in front him.

"MEG?!!!!!" She yells again. I was behind her and Bill was behind me.

"Jo, take a flashlight!" Bill yelled. I seriously needed to get some ear-plugs. Incase you haven't noticed, I don't like screaming or hearing people scream. They entered the window and before Bill got in, he warned me, "Please stay out and look for Dusty and the others."

"MEG!!! MEG!! Meg, Bill!!!!" Dusty yelled coming up to me. Then, he said to me, "Natalie, take my watch."

"Go, go!!! Careful!!" Beltzer yells as Dusty is about to enter the window. "BILL?!!" Dusty yelled. Then, Mom and Bill come out carrying out Aunt Meg.

"We're okay, we're coming out!" Mom informed us.

"Oh really," I said sarcastically. "That would explain why you're here and alive!"

"Not now, Natalie! Get an ambulance over here!" Bill yelled at me.

"Get an ambulance, Laurence, Now!!!! Go!!" Dusty hollered at Laurence, and helped Bill and Mom with Aunt Meg.

Lawrence runs to flag down an ambulance. An ambulance comes over, a paramedic hops out, gets a stretcher, they lays Meg on it. Then she realized, "Bill! Natalie! Grab Mose for me, I think he's a little shaken up!"

"Don't worry I'll get him." Bill said. "Mose!" He yelled going back into the house. I sighed and followed him. "Be careful." He warned me. I nodded and rolled my eyes.

"Its okay, it's okay." I said to Mose once we found him. Bill picked up him and I pushed stuff out of the way. We got out of the house unharmed. Just as we got out, the house collapses as the way. We walked over to Meg would was arguing.

"Overnight? Forget it. I'm all right." Meg said. I knew if she was going to go to a hospital, she would have to drive herself. But, I saw her car in a tree coming into Wakita.

"You're going to the hospital." Mom says, worried about her. Tornados have taken away too many people from her. Her parents, Bobby, and almost me.

"Okay, I'll go, but I'm gonna drive myself." See how correct I am sometimes?

"Honey, your car is in a tree around the corner." Rabbit tells her.

"Ohh…" She says and allows the paramedic to take her into the ambulance. I walk over to Dusty's van to check the weather reports.

"The F4 that hit Wakita has now moved on to the north-east, I've just gotten word in that an even stronger tornado has now started to form 25 miles south of Wakita, but right now the two storm systems are funneling back, the National Weather Service saying that this is highly unusual and they are saying that this tornado could be the strongest in the state in more than 30 years-" Dusty goes over to tell Beltzer and I walk over to mom and Aunt Meg.

"Hey, what're you doin'?" She asks us.

"I wanna see how you are." Mom tells her.

"I- we were worried about you." I tell Aunt Meg. She had a wrist brace and on her head, she was supporting white, bloodied up, and tight bandage.

"Oh, look at this-" Mom says to Meg. But Meg interrupts her. "It's nothing. He says I have a bump on the head, and maybe a broken wrist...." I left them alone and walked over to her house. You couldn't really tell it was one, but I knew it. I was so wrapped up in my thoughts; I didn't notice Bill come up beside me.

"You know that I never wanted to hurt you." He told me. I didn't realize there were tears till he held his hand up to my face, and wiped them off.

"Yea, but it didn't stop the blow." I said quietly. "No matter what you do, it's going to hurt someone, somewhere. Whether you know them or not."

"Do you know why I never pressed your mother about the papers till Dusty said something about it?" That brought up old memories.

"_Bill!" I heard Dusty yell into a phone. I was 14 and I knew he was talking to the dad that left me and my mother years ago. I've only seen him a couple times but I preferred to stay with my mom._

"_Are you still in love with Jo?" He asked. I listened closely. There was a small pause. "Well, you file for divorce and you don't even try to get her to sign them as quickly as possible."_

_There was another pause. Then, Dusty said, "Man, it's starting suspicious." There was a pause where I knew Bill was talking. "Alright, bye." And Dusty hung up his phone and went back to listening to some old 70's music._

"Because I was still in love with her. But, I thought she wouldn't take me back after running off. I **knew **you wouldn't forgive me. I was supposed to be your super-hero but I ran away."

"You know," He continues. "It's my fault Bobby's dead you know."

I felt the tears come back to my eyes. "It's mine. I was so selfish and I was so mad at him for blaming me that you left." He was about to talk but I continued. "I didn't warn him when Nana told me too." He hugged me and for once, I lost control. I cried into his chest, ruining his shirt. Most people, who knew me, would never think they'd see the day; I'd just break down and cry. But, here I was.

"It's not your fault, alright baby girl?" He told me. I nodded and wiped the tears from my eyes. "You know, this is the first time I saw you cry."

"You should check on mom. She's probably upset about Aunt Meg going to the hospital." I mumbled. He nodded, kissed me on the cheek, and then walked over to mom.

"All right, I need every aluminum can you can find!" I heard Mom yell after a few minutes. Then, dad started talking.

"We need cutters and duct tape! Haynes, Beltzer, I want to get the last DOROTHYs on the back of my truck, and I want everyone working on it!"

"We're gone!!" Dusty said. Half of the team goes to Beltzer's van cutting pin-wheel fans out of aluminum cans and screwing them onto the sensors. I had the craziest feeling that DOROTHRY was going to fly.

Author's Note: This is the next to last chapter. I thought about making this one but I thought the big F5 tornado should have its own chapter. And I will NOT reveal who Bobby is. Some may be able to guess though. HOW BOBBY RELATES TO THE STORY WILL IS REVEALED IN THE LAST CHAPTER.


	8. That Was Fun, Let's Do It Again

Warning: Language

Haynes, Beltzer, Rabbit, and everyone else pulls out boxes of sensors, now with the fans attached. Box, after box, they dump them back into Dorothy 3 and Dorothy 4. I watched as they did this. After that, I climbed into the truck, for the last time, maybe.

"Half a mile more?" Mom asks Dad as we drive along the road. It was the 2nd day Dad has been back with us. But, I really didn't expect him to stay.

"That's sounds right. I figure we'll put it right in the middle of the road." He tells her.

"Unless you think somebody will hit it." Mom said, not thinking. Who'd be on a road with an F5 tornado? Oh right, us!

"Nobody will be there." I told her. She nods understanding.

The F5 tornado approaches the road that we are on. We're in Dad's truck, Dad is driving. The roar of the tornado is deafening. Dad stops the car, and Mom and Dad get out. I stay in the car, because Dad made me promise to stay in here since my head isn't fully healed. The tornado is on the road, directly in front of them. He goes around and he and Mom take Dorothy # 3 out of the back of the truck.

"Hurry! Let's go, common'!!!" I heard Dad shout. They both get back in the car and drive a distance away. While Dad is doing that, Mom talks into the radio. "Dusty, you in position?"

"Yeah, we're prime, ready for contact!" Dusty screamed.

"This is it. Bill: It's gonna work." Mom said. Then I realized DOROTHOY was too light. She only tip over and make a mess.

"It's too light-" Dad said but Mom interrupted him.

"NO IT'S NOT!!"

"We're losing it!" I shouted.

"No we're not! She can still fly!!!!" Mom said not believing that DOROTHOY was too light. Just like me and Dad told him.

Suddenly an uprooted tree tips Dorothy over, and the tornado decides to change direction...... towards us.

"Let's go!!!" Mom yelled.

"My God!" came Dad's response.

We try to drive away, but the car gets stuck on the uprooted tree in the middle of the road.

"Oh my God...."

"Common'!" Dad grunted trying to get back the tree,

"Get us off this thing!"

"Comon'!"

"Bill, kick it!"

"DAD!! Let's go! Right now! Hurry!!!!"

"What is that?!!" Mom yelled. We both see something metallic flying around in the tornado. It is a tank truck!

"Bill, hurry! HURRY! HURRY!!!!!!" Dad floors it again, no success.

"HURRY!!!"

He throws his whole body weight onto the gas pedal. "Hold On!!!!!" Suddenly the car snaps forward as it's nudged by the tank truck coming right at us.

"LET'S GO!!" Mom shouts. Suddenly the tank truck falls to the ground right in front of us, exploding. We drive right through it.

"Son of a bitch!" Dad yelled.

"Natalie, Jo, Bill, You all right?!! Fact, can you guys hear me? You okay?" Dusty shouted into the radio.

"We're okay." Mom said.

"Did you see that explosion?" He asked excitedly.

"We saw it." She said humorlessly.

"This one, she's still moving northeast on 80, you copy?" Rabbit said.

"This is it." Dad said

"Last one." Mom smiled a little but I could tell she was sad.

"Last Time." I finished.

"They have to be there somewhere." Dad said talking about Jonas' crew. "They have position. They could make it."

"Not unless they anchored the pack." I said.

Mom said into the radio, getting on the same frequency as Jonas. "Jonas? This is Jo. Can you hear me?"

"Not now, Harding." Mom smiled a bit about having the same last time as Dad before the divorce.

"Jonas, listen to me. The pack is too light, the twister will toss it before it reaches the core, you'll have to anchor it."

"Oh, sharing valuable information, Jo? I'll consider that, thank you." I rolled my eyes.

"Jonas, what's your position?" Dad said into the radio to Jonas.

"Oh, howdy, Bill. We are heading northeast running parallel and about to pull ahead of it on the left, why?"

"Hang back a minute; we've got a pretty good view from back here. She could shift her track, and if she does, she's gonna come right at you! D'you copy?" Dad was being nice. He never wanted anyone to die, no matter if he hated them or not. He was right though. If it did shift, Jonas' team would die or be severely injured.

"Jonas, listen to me. This is not-"

"Get off this frequency, Bill!!" Then, Jonas switched off his radio.

"She's shifting." I said slowly. It was heading right toward Jonas' team.

"Oh my God. Jonas, I'm telling you…. Eddie, I know you can hear me! Turn around now!! Get out of there!!!" Bill yelled into the radio.

The tornado shifts direction and spins over Jonas' crew. We watch as the black Windstars fly through the air. Suddenly a radio tower slams through the windshield, killing Eddie and Jonas. We watches Jonas' car crash and explode. Mom flinches at this. In a fit of rage, Dad throws down the radio mic.

"Damn it!! Stupid."

"We tried. There's nothing we could do." Mom told him. And she was right. Jonas got him and his own team killed.

"Bill, Jo, ground speed is increasing. Get ahead of it as fast as you can or she's gonna bury ya!" Beltzer screams into the radio.

"Debris!!! DUSTY, WE HAVE DEBRIS!!!" Mom shouts as debris flies past the truck. The debris consists of cars, tractors, road signs. It's falling everywhere. Mom directs Dad as it all falls around them.

"RIGHT!!!!!!"

"LEFT!!!!!!"

"RIGHT!!!!!!"

"LEFT!!!!!!"

Suddenly a house comes rolling along and stops on the road.

"Oh my God." I said without thinking.

"I think we're goin' in!!" Dad states.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!" Mom screamed.

"Maybe we should get off of this road." He says after we went through the house.

"I think you may be right." She said breathless.

"We're goin' in." Dad states. "You ready?" He says to me. I nod. Carefully, I open the back window of the truck and crawls through. DOROTHY # 4 is loaded up in the back; quickly I switch it on and crawl back inside.

"She's up." I told them. Mom looked out her window and I climbed over the seat to sit in the middle of them.

"You ready?" Mom asks Dad.

"Yeah. Let me just set the cruise control. Okay we're good."

"On three?" Mom asks.

"On three. Go." They open the doors and stand, the truck is still going 50.

"One." Dad says.

"Two." Mom says after him.

Then, I shout, "Three!" Once they jumped out, I jumped out the passenger seat and landed beside mom. We stand up and watch the truck continue into the twister. As the truck and Dorothy are lifted up into the twister, and the sensors fly up into the air, we hear the haunting sound of the wind chimes. We all get in a group hug.

"Oh no! RUN!!!!!!!!" Dad shouts. The tornado shifts and starts coming toward us. We ran as fast as possible which meant: Me in front, Dad behind me, running while holding Mom's hand. "The barn, common'!! Look out!!!"

We run to the barn. Fence boards slam and stick in the barn walls. They get inside. Sickles, knives, and saws hang from the ceiling.

"Stay down!!" Dad warned us.

"Who are these people?!" I asked.

"I don't think so!! Common'! Let's get out quick!!" We run out of the barn, and then duck as the roof of the barn flies over their heads. "Oh my God! Common''! Run for it!!" Dad shouted. If everyone keeps shouting, my ears are going to start bleeding.

We continue to run until they get to pump house. The door to the pump house won't open. "COME ON!!!!" He finally opens it.

As we got inside, a piece of a roof flies past her. She screams. They go inside. The well is a "U" shaped pipe coming up out of the ground.

"Here! These pipes go down at least 30 feet. We anchor to 'em, we might have a chance!"

"Bill!" Mom said.

He Grabs a rawhide strap, ties it first around them, then loops it on to the pipes. "Hold on!!!"

The tornado looms overhead; we were lifted up in the air, however still attached to the pipes. Then, I get a major flashback.

_I ran through the hallways of Nana's house. Bobby had just told me that daddy left because of me. Tears ran down my face. He was my older brother. He was supposed to be nice and caring but no! He had to blame me! _

'_The reason that daddy left was because you were born! I remembered him yelling at me. Nana found me and was scared._

"_Get Bobby. Hurry!" She pushed me toward the room he was staying in. Mommy sent us to her Mommy for the summer. Auntie Meg was sick so she couldn't watch us. _

_I almost decided to get Bobby from his room but then I remembered what he said to me. So, I ran downstairs away from him and towards Nana._

"_Where's Bobby?" She asked me once I got down there._

"_He decided not to come." I lied to her. She took my hand and ran into the basement. _

"_Stay here. I'll be right back." But she never came back. Neither did Bobby. I went upstairs and saw something dark and moving. It was really big and was heading toward me._

_Before I could move, I was in the air. Something kept slamming into me. I couldn't breathe. Finally, I was let down. My whole body was hurting. Strange people came up to me and questioned me._

_I saw two bodies being moved out of the house. Nana and Bobby. _

We were looking at the inside of the tornado. It looked amazing! Lightning circles around the light, which was at the top of the twister. It suddenly goes away and we are now under the pipes. Everything was silent for a while.

"That was fun. Let's do it again." I said, jokingly. Mom cracked a smile and Dad chuckled.

"You all right?" Mom asked Dad, already forgetting me. When the team comes up I walked over to them, as we watched my parents talk. Not argue, but talk.

He nods. "Wow, look at that. It didn't take the house."

"We did it." She said amazed.

"Yeah, we did. Dorothy really flew."

"It was a good idea."

"Yeah, well I...."

"We've got so much to do." Mom said.

"Yeah."

"I've got to get grant approvals for a new warning system, we need a bigger lab, you've got to do an analysis of all that data...."

"I do?" Dad asked.

"Yeah, we've got to generate models out of all this data; and I need to run the lab-"

"Oh, no, no, no. You're doing the analysis, I'm running the lab." It amazed me that they didn't realize we were watching and listening to their talk/

"You're running the lab? I don't think so!" Mom said like he was insane.

"I'm running the lab! G- Do you always have to do things the hard way?" When Dad said this, we walked over to them.

"You got it guys, the sensors worked! The computers went crazy; we've got data coming out of our ears!" Haynes stated, smiling. Beltzer had his arm around her.

"Biggest twister ever recorded!!" He said.

"Awesome, man!" Dusty said. Laurence laughed at him and hugged me from behind.

"Hey, Jo, Bill, check out that sky!" Sanders yelled. I felt Laurence rest his head on my shoulder. The sky is clear.

"You know what; I think we've seen enough!" Mom says. Dad smiles at her and leans and kisses her. I feel Laurence kiss my neck. Everything's good.

Thank for LTML and JenD10 for your reviews! You reviewed on every chapter and I wanna thank you! This is the last chapter of the story. I wish I could have gone on, but I decided that I would wait a day or two and let you vote on whether or not I should write a sequel.

The poll is on my page so please vote. I wrote most of them from the twister script. I do NOT own Twister.

This is the website: 

You found out about Bobby and how Jo's mom died. Yes, they probably would still be alive if Bill didn't leave and Natalie wasn't so mad at Bobby but things happen. Please read my other story, One Thousand Miles Closer To You. It's a Chronicles of Narnia story. About a girl named Savannah. You don't have to read it though.

Hope to be able to write the sequel to Learning To Fall. And Warning: I know what's happening between Laurence and Natalie and if you care to guess, go ahead, but I ain't telling.

_**CHENNAI**_


	9. Age Info

Natalie: 17

Bill: 38

Jo: 35

Dusty: 39

Rabbit: 31

Laurence: 21

Joey: 24

Sanders: 35

Beltzer: 32

Haynes: 29

Preacher: 41

Melissa: 36

Aunt Meg: 56

Jonas: 38

Eddie: 23


End file.
